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One night you are on the dance floor at your high school prom, and the next, you are filling out legal documents and lining up a visa interview — reminiscing on sparkly high school memories you had before, all of which should not be a thing of the past. As an immigrant, you are now set up for a new future, all laid out in the necessary legal papers with convoluted vocabulary that you have never encountered before.
In high school, we are told that everything we are taught will be applicable at some point in our life. Well, did your high school teachers teach you how to fill out a visa application or apply for a Social Security number?
The transition from high school to college — especially for those moving across the ocean — is a marker of maturity. Grocery shopping alone, stocking up on toiletries, sharing living spaces with others, scheduling solo trips to the doctors and more all encapsulate the undoubtedly big leap between two contrasting lifestyles.
In addition, the pressure to navigate life in a new city can get so overwhelming that it causes mental health concerns, ranging from homesickness to depression. The new responsibilities that a college first-year has to take on give them the daunting responsibility of being an adult.
This struggle is more complex for international students attending college. Adjusting to an educational environment thousands of miles away from home is a challenge in every aspect.
As the oldest of five, in Vietnam, I was raised to take care of my siblings and had to be mature at a very young age. Barely knowing what “mature” even meant as a child, I was expected to be the other “adult” in the house.
It was only when I decided to experience high school in California that I learned about the social expectations I had to fulfill as an adult.
My parents are not fluent in English, which makes filling out the required legal documents impossible. In addition, a student must acquire a visa to complete the preparation for studying abroad. The documents to fill out stacked up, including every detail of myself and my background, all of which was extremely overwhelming for someone who just graduated from middle school. Questions included: What does your mother do? Which university did she graduate from? Are your parents capable of paying for your tuition?
Not only did I learn how to fill out information that is beyond my name, date of birth and city of birth, but I also realized the monetary investment into my education in every single digit. Though I appreciate my parents’ sacrifice in providing me with the opportunity to further my education, the number put a huge pressure on my mental health throughout my high school years. Now that my parents do not make my spending decisions, I am on my own in picking whether to treat myself to a dine-out meal or use the meal swipe for whatever is served at the dining hall.
Adhering to new social norms, cultural heritages and familiarities in a completely different environment also takes immense mental capacity. In 2021, I landed at Los Angeles International Airport and was immediately greeted by intimidating border police interrogating my reason for arrival.
“What are you here for?” followed by an eye roll, is enough to make a 16-year-old contemplate her decision to study abroad in the United States.
As we spent our childhoods growing up in different environments, making friends is not easy for international students either. Though we are living in a world of constant globalization and accessible media, the culture that exists in our everyday conversation varies based on the social values — ever-changing pop culture and the speed at which breaking news spreads. When playing a Vietnamese pop song in my headphones, I sometimes fear the judgment I could face from Americans. This lines up with a sociological phenomenon called ethnocentrism. Similarly, a pop culture-related joke or reference could evoke laughter amongst United States netizens, but a different cultural audience might not enjoy it as much.
Culture and language co-create each other, and they vary differently based on each person’s upbringing. Despite the need for standardized test scores to prove English language skill, there is still a very present language barrier in daily conversations.
Coming into college, one might feel equipped with their list of advanced studies classes from high school and a qualified transcript, but this picture is different when moving between two distinctive educational systems. The U.S. education system often emphasizes critical thinking, class participation and group projects, which may be different from the lecture-based, memorization-heavy systems in other countries. With a different expectation and grading style from professors and teachers, too, fulfilling criteria extends beyond checking boxes and meeting deadlines.
The navigation of the high school to college transition for international students looks different than the common perception of this journey. Hitting more milestones and expectations, dealing with legal papers, adapting to the cultural differences and catching up with a new set of academic expectations force international students to be more mature earlier, before college even starts.
Jenny Tran is a first-year criminal justice and journalism combined major. She can be reached at [email protected]
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